European VCs Not Venturesome Enough

European-based venture capitalists are too cautious.

SILICON VALLEY VENTURE CAPITALISTS DON'T SHOW much love for Europe these days. After opening up scores of offices in London during the dot-com boom, they have forsaken the region for Asia, or more precisely, China and India. In fact, it's pretty hard to get American early-stage investors to pay attention to anything else, even U.S. start-ups.

They complain that Europe is too small and too complicated. Despite the many countries belonging to the European Union and their mostly shared currency, Europe, the VCs gripe, is...